"Our comparative advantage is why we're out of space," said Morris Davis in Real Estate NJ

It's the type of requirement that public officials might often dream about: A global company wants to open a 1 million-square-foot distribution or manufacturing center just a few miles outside Port Newark-Elizabeth, proposing to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to the state.

There is just one problem — it will be years before the company can put a shovel in the ground.

As the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition has found, there are just a handful of large-scale, remediated and entitled sites in and around the port region of northern New Jersey. The lack of supply is a glaring problem, the group argues, given the growth trajectory of e-commerce, logistics and other large industrial users that are willing to pay a premium to be here.

"Our comparative advantage is why we're out of space," said Morris Davis, academic director and Paul V. Profeta chair at the Rutgers Center for Real Estate. "There is an opportunity in New Jersey. It's a massive growth opportunity, but how do we take advantage of it?"